Largest single project of the Dortmund Foundation “Fit for digital education homeschooling in KITZ.do” - 100,000 euros donations

KITZ.do offers children and young people who have problems with homeschooling the chance to receive free support from specialist staff. Photo: pixabay

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By Jil Bastian

The corona pandemic is currently limiting the social contacts of every individual and children and young people in particular are particularly hard hit by the restrictions. The children’s and youth technology center KITZ.do and the Dortmund Foundation have started the initiative “Fit for digital education – homeschooling at KITZ.do”. The aim of the free project is above all to support socially disadvantaged students with digital lessons and to work through the missed school material with the help of specialist staff in order to close educational gaps.

Economically disadvantaged students receive support through a new project

The Children’s Youth Technology Center is a school laboratory for children, adolescents and young adults in Dortmund, which wants to experiment and research scientifically with fun and a lot of interest regardless of everyday school life.

With professional laboratories and workshops, the KITZ.do initiative offers space for independent creativity. It looks at the entire educational career of children and young people and covers many different areas of education.

The Dortmund Foundation has been investing in the future of the city of Dortmund through donations from companies and private individuals for over 20 years, so that they are also happy to support the KITZ.do project in order to enable the children to have a successful future.

Don’t lose touch: the offer promotes social cohesion

At KITZ.do, children and young people have the opportunity to conduct research in an online workshop. Archive photo: KITZ.do

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Due to the months of homeschooling, social inequality in terms of education is increasing. It is still uncertain when the schools will be allowed to resume normal operations.

Because of this currently widespread problem, the Dortmund Foundation and KITZ.do are working against the division of society with the project “Fit for digital education homeschooling”. Dortmund students who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds can use the offer, which is free thanks to the Dortmund Foundation, at any time.

The young people have the chance to work on the subject matter that they have missed with a specialist in order to be up to date with the school and continue to work carefully. The offer promotes social cohesion so that no people are excluded from the disadvantages of homeschooling. Due to the lockdown, facilities such as daycare centers, schools, homework aids and playgrounds had already been closed for months, which mostly had serious consequences for disadvantaged children and young people.

The aim of KITZ.do is to work towards visible progress of the children – continuous learning pays off

KITZ.do tries to avoid further negative consequences with preventive measures and to counteract the educational and motivation gaps that have arisen up to now, emphasized the management of KITZ.do Dr. Ulrike Martin. It is important that students still have enough free time so that they do not have to neglect their own interests because of school. The project will run in such a way that there are five fixed groups with ten students each in KITZ.do every week.

Proud Scratch Jr. Programmer presents his programming work. Photo: Gerd Wüsthoff

The social contacts in the workshops give the young people a little more normalcy. Archive photo: Gerd Wüsthoff

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Each child should be supported four hours a week in the facility. The groups are changed every three months. It makes sense if the children attend all appointments so that they do not take away any child’s seat.

It is also important that the children and young people make progress and develop themselves further, which is promoted by continuity. The course as well as the success stories of the offer are recorded and regularly announced.

In order to make participants aware of the project, KITZ.do cooperates with the school administration office and schools, emphasizes Dr. Ulrike Martin. As soon as the corona ordinance makes it possible to meet in the group in person, the project will no longer take place digitally as planned, but it is currently only offered online.

Entrepreneur doubles donation amount to 100,000 euro perspective for KITZ.do

The children look forward to the learning groups – even if they will initially only take place online. (Archive)

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The Dortmund Foundation has spoken out in favor of supporting the “Homeschooling” project, as it is important to them that socially disadvantaged children and young people from Dortmund are not excluded, but can continue to be connected and receive individual support.

Social cohesion is very important for those affected, especially in the current pandemic situation, explained Prof. Dr. Guido Quelle, chairman of the board of the Dortmund Foundation.

Christoph Spiekermann, CFO of the Dortmund Foundation, advocates equal opportunities, which is specifically promoted with this offer. Some entrepreneurs and associations such as Lensing Media, Dula-Werke Dustmann & Co. KG or the Sparkasse Dortmund in the greater Dortmund area were enthusiastic about this idea, so that 50,000 euros were donated to the “Homeschooling” initiative, said Prof. Dr. Guido source.

An entrepreneur had spoken out in favor of doubling the donations received from the start, so that in the end 100,000 euros were earned. He wants to remain anonymous. The offer will be available to the children and young people for at least one year, but the aim is that the project can be funded in the long term.

Children’s and youth technology center arouses curiosity among children – experiments even during corona times

Curiosity is aroused by the diverse online workshops from KITZ.do. Archive photo: Mondo Mio

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“Homeschooling” project, which the KITZ.do initiative supports, is one of the many offers of the child and youth technology center, which represents the motto: “Curiosity makes you smart!”. The students are offered an extracurricular learning location that offers an exciting environment for new experiences. Children and young people have the chance to discover their abilities and to believe in their own abilities.

By getting to know different professional fields as well as dealing with scientific and technical topics, every child gets an insight into the variety of topics. Online workshops are currently offered on various topics, which consist of individual events. Young people’s thirst for research should not be neglected. This format started on January 25th and is available to every participant free of charge.

The prerequisite for participating in a workshop is timely registration on the website with the title of the event, the date, the full name and the contact options. In addition, you need a zoom-capable device with image and sound as well as the materials for the corresponding workshop. For each event, an age group and the corresponding time period are given so that you know for whom the event is suitable and when exactly it takes place.